Page 187 - Štremfel, Urška, ed., 2016. Student (Under)achievement: Perspectives, Approaches, Challenges. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut. Digital Library, Documenta 11.
P. 187
used in accordance with the participants’ development stage. The most 187
suitable programme for students in lower- and upper-secondary schools is
My FRIENDS Youth, which is used in the period between the ages of eleven
and seventeen. During this period, the programmes aids adolescents in devel-
oping skills for efficiently coping with everyday problems and (or) situations
that increase anxiety; normalises anxiety; improves one’s resilience and prob-
lem-solving skills; encourages peer learning and development of peer and so-
cial support groups; improves one’s self-confidence in dealing with difficult sit-
uations and is efficient in reducing anxiety and depression.
Implications for Educational Policy and Educational
Practice
The generally adopted standpoint of educational practice and educational
policy is that school is to be oriented towards the comprehensive develop-
ment of an individual, i.e. his/her basic fundamental knowledge, the ability
to cooperate with different people in an emotionally and socially acceptable
way as part of a healthy lifestyle and by means of responsible and respectful
behaviour (Greenberg et al., 2003). In other words, in addition to cognitive de-
velopment, schools should, in equal measure, encourage students’ emotion-
al and social development. Here, attention needs to be drawn to the fact that
schools are exposed to high expectations with regard to students’ academic
achievement and consequently devote more attention to the learning process
within the school. So, on the one hand they are mainly oriented towards en-
couragement of cognitive aspects of delivering teaching content, assessment,
teaching and learning strategies and, on the other hand, they tend to neglect
the emotional and social processes taking place in the background. In rela-
tion to this it is necessary to point out that social and emotional learning does
not deter schools from the fundamental teaching and learning processes and
acquisition of basic knowledge, but enables better-quality and more efficient
teaching and learning within schools. Through this, the school simultaneous-
ly pursues its aim of educating caring, responsible students by means of qual-
ity and long-term knowledge. Social and emotional learning not only sets stu-
dents on the path to academic achievement, but also leads to success at a later
time in life and in fields outside of school (Ragozzino et al., 2003).
At a school level, social and emotional learning encompasses two wid-
er-scope educational approaches. The first one includes practice, integration
and selection of various types of emotional and social skills programmes de-
pending on the developmental period. Through systematic teaching students
are able to learn (by means of learning, modelling and exercises) social and
emotional skills in such a way that they can easily apply them to different sit-
fostering social and emotional learning as means of achieving better-quality knowledge
suitable programme for students in lower- and upper-secondary schools is
My FRIENDS Youth, which is used in the period between the ages of eleven
and seventeen. During this period, the programmes aids adolescents in devel-
oping skills for efficiently coping with everyday problems and (or) situations
that increase anxiety; normalises anxiety; improves one’s resilience and prob-
lem-solving skills; encourages peer learning and development of peer and so-
cial support groups; improves one’s self-confidence in dealing with difficult sit-
uations and is efficient in reducing anxiety and depression.
Implications for Educational Policy and Educational
Practice
The generally adopted standpoint of educational practice and educational
policy is that school is to be oriented towards the comprehensive develop-
ment of an individual, i.e. his/her basic fundamental knowledge, the ability
to cooperate with different people in an emotionally and socially acceptable
way as part of a healthy lifestyle and by means of responsible and respectful
behaviour (Greenberg et al., 2003). In other words, in addition to cognitive de-
velopment, schools should, in equal measure, encourage students’ emotion-
al and social development. Here, attention needs to be drawn to the fact that
schools are exposed to high expectations with regard to students’ academic
achievement and consequently devote more attention to the learning process
within the school. So, on the one hand they are mainly oriented towards en-
couragement of cognitive aspects of delivering teaching content, assessment,
teaching and learning strategies and, on the other hand, they tend to neglect
the emotional and social processes taking place in the background. In rela-
tion to this it is necessary to point out that social and emotional learning does
not deter schools from the fundamental teaching and learning processes and
acquisition of basic knowledge, but enables better-quality and more efficient
teaching and learning within schools. Through this, the school simultaneous-
ly pursues its aim of educating caring, responsible students by means of qual-
ity and long-term knowledge. Social and emotional learning not only sets stu-
dents on the path to academic achievement, but also leads to success at a later
time in life and in fields outside of school (Ragozzino et al., 2003).
At a school level, social and emotional learning encompasses two wid-
er-scope educational approaches. The first one includes practice, integration
and selection of various types of emotional and social skills programmes de-
pending on the developmental period. Through systematic teaching students
are able to learn (by means of learning, modelling and exercises) social and
emotional skills in such a way that they can easily apply them to different sit-
fostering social and emotional learning as means of achieving better-quality knowledge
